School desk and seat



(No Model.)

H. WEBER. SCHOOL DESK Am) SEAT.

No. 309,115. Patent ed Dec. 9, 1884.

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HENRY \VEBER, OF \VATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 309,115, dated December 9, 1884:.

Application filed February 15, 1884.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY \VEBER, of \Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined School Desks and Seats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of my invention is to combine with a school-desk or other similar article of furniture a tilting seat mounted upon a knife edge pivot at the bottom of its support, so that it shall have capacity to tilt backward in either direction from the center of gravity, but will retain by gravity either the backward or for ward position, thus enabling the occupant of the seat to have at will a proper seat or a vacant unobstructed space instead.

My invention therein consists in the manner of poising the seat, in the construction of its journals to avoid wear and dispense with lubrication, and in certain details of construction and arrangement, all as more fully hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

For the better understanding of this invention, and to enable those skilled in the art to which it relates to know how to properly construct the same, attention is invited to the accompanying drawings, which for convenience illustrate the seat as applied to a school-desk, and wherein- Figure 1 is a central transverse section of a school desk and seat, illustrating in dotted lines the position of the seat when thrown back; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the-seat on the line 00 x of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a view in detail of the end fulcrum of the shaft upon which the seat is mounted.

Like letters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

A denotes the desk proper, of an appropri ate construction, having a hinged leaf or extension, A, and aback-support, A to the seat. This desk is supported at each end by a standard, B, of any desirable design, and preferably of a form having two feet, a a, as shown in the drawings. The seat C is arranged between these standards, and is supported at each side by two castings, b b,the lower ends of which connect and are rigidly but removably mounted upon the shaft D, which has bearing at each end in a bracket, E. This bracket is cast or otherwise provided upon or near the foot a of each of the desk-standards, and has an interior socket, c, and an opening, 0', in its side,which opening communicates with said socket and adapts it to receive the ends of the shaft D. The sockets c are each provided in its bottom with a groove, (I, cut square, as shown, or wedge shape. A block, a, made of hardened steel, is inserted into each of these grooves, and its upper or bearing surfaces are downwardly and inwardly inclined to a point at its center. The bearing ends of the shaft D are of hardened steel, and for a distance equal to the depth of the sockets c are beveled or inclined from opposite points downwardly and inwardly to a point on a line with the center of gravity. At this point the shaft has bearings in the joint of the inclined faces of the blocks 0. The movement of the seat back and forth is to a certain extent limited by the con tact of the inclined faces'of the shaft-bearings with those of the blocks 5 but to make the limit certain, a bar, F, is secured at each end of the desk-standards,j ust beneath the seat and between the castings which support the same. Normally the rear branches of these castings rest against said bar, and are provided each with a recess, f, which fit over the edges of the same. Vhen the seat tilts-back beyond the center of gravity, its movement is limited by the contact of the front branches of the seat castings with the bar .D, said branches also having a recess, f.

To avoid noise, the points of contact on the bar D or the seat-castings should be cushioned. A set-screw, G, passes through the top of each of the brackets E, and prevents vertical play of the shaft. Setscrews G may also pass through the bottom of the brackets to give additional support to the blocks 6.

In operation, usually when the pupil rises, the pressure of the lower limbs against the seat tilts the same back, and as he assumes an upright position the seat resumes its normal forward position. If the'pressure against the seat is sufficient to tilt it back beyond the center of gravity,it is caught and held by the bar F. In this instance it has to be brought back to its normal position by the pupil by hand, as also it may be thrown back fully by hand.

It will be manifest that without the exercise of invention this seat could be poised so that the center of gravity would permit of the seat tilting back to its limit upon the rise of the pupil, or, on the other hand, always resume its forward position when the pressure was released.

By making the journals of the shaft and the blocks 6 of hardened steel, it will be apparent 10 that rapid wearing is avoided and lubrication dispensed with.

Having thus described my invention, whatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

HENRY XVEBER.

\Vitnesses:

E. J MANVILLE, ANDREW \VEBER. 

